The excellent Dreams of Horses (one of my favorite blogs...he's had some awesome stuff lately) has 3 tracks from the upcoming Tortoise and Bonnie 'Prince' Billy collaborative album, The Bold and The Brave, including this track, the album-opener:

"There are so many surprising twists in the melodies, time signatures, lyrics and production that I'll keep returning to these songs for months. Elephant Eyelash is a terrific rock record, especially for a guy who's known as an MC..."

Recommended for fans of Pavement, Beck, Radiohead, and the Fiery Furnaces.

Saturday, October 29, 2005

Awesome movie, even better soundtrack. Written and beautifully directed by Noah Baumbach with the kind of impossible attention to detail reminiscent of his work with Wes Anderson, The Squid and the Whale is one of the best movies I've seen this year. Also the second movie in a row we've watched with Tim DeLaughter from the Polyphonic Spree sitting right behind us (the first being Thumbsucker). While I felt this clearly meant he was stalking us, it was suggested that he probably just has the same taste in movies. Whatever.

Here's one of the highlights from the soundtrack, used perfectly during a montage:

Friday, October 28, 2005

These songs run the gamut stylistically from '60's California sunshine-pop to indie-folk to psych-rock, but all 3 sound like a band with a ton of promise. The band's website describes their sound as "lushly melodic," adding that they "eschew traditional verse/chorus songwriting, but they never, ever 'jam'."

Thursday, October 27, 2005

This comes to us from the cool people at the Polyphonic Spree Forum: The Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne and Tim DeLaughter of the Polyphonic Spree covering Willie Nelson's "Good Hearted Woman". It's really short (about 1 minute) but to Tim's credit, you can hear he was ready to go longer until Wayne cut him off.Tim DeLaughter + Wayne CoyneGood Hearted Woman mp3

On the heels of Dodge's posts on Swedish bands yesterday comes this post on yet another ridiculously likeable, impossibly good Swedish band with a misleading name: the Acid House Kings. If you're a fan of Kings of Convenience or Belle & Sebastian I can almost guarantee you will love these guys. Tiny Mix Tapes gushes about their new album:

"Mixing the sweet and gentle pop of Camera Obscura with the gorgeous intelligent dance sensibility of ABBA, Acid House Kings' newest will overwhelm your senses and make you fall in love."

In this installment of good bands with bad names, we have Tarantula A.D. Actually, their name isn't necessarily "bad", I just put off listening to them because the name sounded a little too death metal-y for me. But when I heard that their debut LP, Book of Sand, featured contributions from Devendra Banhart and CocoRosie's Sierra Casady, I figured they were worth a listen.

Let me start by saying this music isn't for everyone. Everything about this album is epic, from the cover art to the arrangements, instrumentation, and song structure. I'm really at a loss of words to describe their sound, so I'll let others do it for you.

Turnip says Book of Sand is "a living soundtrack of pounding rhythms, lush strings, spaced out opera and crashing rock...Sand is that creeping feeling you get when you run through the woods alone at night chased by a loved one who finally snapped"

Dude, that's kind of what I was thinking. Serious.

Mammoth Press says, "this is an album that you sit down with on a Saturday afternoon with a book and a cup of coffee and just soak in. Tarantula A.D really have something here, and for those with the patience to fully absorb it all there is a rich musical reward. I highly recommend this."

Finally, Mystery and Misery calls Tarantula "perhaps the most amazing live band I’ve ever seen."

The dates have been set for the 2006 Austin City Limits Festival. I guess the festival organizers thought that by moving the festival from the last weekend in September to the second to last weekend in September (Sept. 15-17), they would avoid those 100 degree temperatures. Good job guys. Organizers cite the fact that "the 30-year average high for the last two weeks of September is 88 degrees Fahrenheit (vs. 84 degrees Fahrenheit for first two weeks of October)." Apparently the organizers haven't heard of global warming.

Rocky Votolato is the newest signee to Barsuk Records (home at one time or another to the likes of Death Cab, Nada Surf, Rilo Kiley, etc.). He has drawn comparisons to Jeff Buckley, the Pernice Brothers, and Pedro the Lion. The following is a track from Rocky's Barsuk debut, Makers, due out Jan. 24, 2006.

I meant to mention these ladies a while back, then I saw that Dreams of Horses posted on them yesterday...so I figured maybe if mention them now, then maybe a bunch of other people will post on them, then they'll make it onto that elbo.wsTop 10 Artists thing and a bunch of people will buy their EP. Because it's good and they deserve it. Plus they have one of the best band names ever.

As regular readers of this blog can attest, when I get into an artist I tend to get a little obsessed and post on them relentlessly until you guys give in and listen just to shut me up (eg: Rogue Wave, Sufjan). Well, The Knife is my current obsession (3posts in under a week!?), which is strange because I'm normally not into electro-pop like this.

But on my weekly trip to the record store to pick up the new Rogue Wave cd (I also got it on vinyl and got the 10:1 ep), I picked up the import self-titled debut from The Knife. I highly recommend you buy this if you can ever find it.

This track, however, is from their more recent album, Deep Cuts, which I could not find at the record store and is apparently not available in the U.S. (if anyone wants to hook me up w/ this I'd really appreciate it). This is not a cover of that 80's jam from Top Gun, but it does reference it. Which is only part of the reason I love it.

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

I have to admit I was unfamiliar with Philadelphia band Mazarin until I found out they will be touring next month with SOUND team, so I thought I'd give them a listen. Not sure how I missed these guys before, but let's just say I was more than impressed.

"This is wonderful stuff, immediately accessible yet impossible to wear out, as much power pop does, even after many repeated listens. Indeed, "Another One Goes By" has the feel of a classic, a song that will stick around forever, married somehow to the time and place in which it first took hold."

Shara Worden (UNT grad, Denton represent) sings, writes songs, and arranges for My Brightest Diamond, and she is also a member of Sufjan's Illinoisemakers. Here's a track from My Brightest Diamond's forthcoming album, Bring Me The Workhorse:

Small Stakes has made available for purchase some of their new gig posters for the likes of Sufjan, Stars, Joanna Newsom, Death Cab, and The Walkmen. Some great stuff, and if you like one I suggest buying it now before it's gone forever. A couple more examples:

Friday, October 21, 2005

I threw up a hastily written post about The Knife's (or would it be The Knives'??) song "Heartbeats" last night. I stopped by the record store last night and picked up the import single and I've been rotating it with Jose Gonzalez's cover all morning...I can't decide which version I like better but they're both amazing.

So in a bit of "Heartbeats" overkill, I found this version, which is apparently a mashup of sorts that combines The Knife version with Jose Gonzalez's cover. Again, I'm worthless and i have no info on this, because I found it on a foreign website and I don't speak foreign.

The Knife is a Swedish duo (Karin and Olaf, apparently brother and sister) who refuse to play live and "deride rock’n’roll for being outdated."

A statement from the band:

"We want to react against the organic, improvised expression. We wanna do a more synthetic, weird and non-organic expression. Within the artificial expression new moods and spheres arise. Electronic music is absolutely the music of the future. Machine music is good."

All my Detroit and Lansing readers, this show is going to be awesome. You have my guarantee. Plus that flyer has a boxer on it, and boxers are cool. So go. (thanks to possibly my coolest myspace friend Nicole for the heads up)

The Detroit Free Press says The Nice Device's "Birth of a Lover" is one of the strongest debut records to emerge from the fruitful Detroit scene in two years ..."

If you're in Dallas, you should really check out this show tonight. El Gato is awesome. Unfortunately, I don't have any mp3s so you're going to have to trust me on that, or you can listen at their myspace page.

Salim Nourallah is also playing, and I know I've mentioned how much I like him. Fortunately, I do have an mp3:

Anyway, the album is great, and you should buy it. Here are a couple songs, the first one earning the coveted distinction of one of our favorite songs of the year. Something about his voice catapults him into that rarified Nick Drake/Elliott Smith category, at least for me:José GonzálezCrosses mp3José GonzálezSave Your Day mp3

Bonus:

songs:illinois has three live tracks from José, including his cover of Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart". (thanks for the heads up, John!)

A few big things for the band: Rolling Stonereviewed their new EP Work, they started a new label to release their EP, and most importantly (for me anyway), the band will be playing at Trees on Nov. 13 (see all tour dates here). Everyone in Dallas should come out and make fun of Bill for smoking Misty Lites.

This may be a rather lengthy post for an artist you've never heard of, but bear with me, he's worth it:

Phil

I received Whatever Happened To Your Loving Heart, the debut CD from Phil and the fledgling release on Achord Recordings, in my mailbox yesterday:

I was immediately drawn in by the charming album artwork, and I was also intrigued by the accompanying press materials proclaiming Phil's Whatever Happened to Your Loving Heart "reminiscent of a young Gram Parsons, while lending a nod to more current artists like...Iron & Wine, or early Sufjan Stevens." Not likely, but I decided to give it a shot anyway.

I felt an instant connection with this record. Phil's comforting vocals and earnest lyrics combined with near perfect production (Akron/Family's Ryan Vanderhoof co-produced) and instrumentation (a beautiful fusion of banjo, steel pedal guitar, piano, cello, and more) make for a pleasantly familiar and soothing listen that never becomes boring or derivative.

Whatever Happened To Your Loving Heart ranks with Bright Eyes' I'm Wide Awake It's Morning and Iron & Wine and Calexico's In The Reins as the best folk-country album of the year.

Monday, October 17, 2005

Vashti Bunyan's Lookaftering (due out Oct. 25) is one of the most highly anticipated folk albums of the year, featuring contributions from Joanna Newsom, Devendra Banhart, Adem, and more. The BBC says:

"Bunyan is back with a new collection of haunting, timeless songs. Lookaftering is authentically crafted, all aching melodies played on acoustic instrumentation. Her crystalline voice blows through the natural world with a fragile, classic force that contemporary ears may find difficult to ignore."

Go check out Dodge's contest for this week, in which you can win some stuff from MOKB favorite Stellastarr* The best part about it: the winner is selected at random, so you can be a complete moron and still win!

I went down to Good Records yesterday afternoon with Jesse from Indoor Fireworks for The Like's In-Store performance, and they sounded surprisingly good (and they sounded even better at their packed show later last night at Gypsy Tearoom). The Like's singer wanted to hook up with Jesse I think, after he knew the words to a Split Enz song they played. Here are some pics and an mp3...check these girls out if you get the chance.

These are from The Go! Team's show at Trees on Saturday (the first stop on their current U.S. tour). If this tour comes through your town, check it out.

Opening act The Grates won the crowd over with their energetic set. Frontwoman Patience is like a cuter, more wholesome Karen O, and you'd be hard pressed to find a singer with more energy and stage presence. Plus, she has some insane dance moves.